1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an apparatus for allowing the safe removal of used needles from hypodermic syringes. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for pushing needles off a syringe without the necessity of grasping or recapping the used needles.
2. Background of the Invention
A very serious practical problem in medical treatment is the removal of needles from hypodermic syringes once those needles have been used. Often syringes and needles are disposed of separately. As a result, it is necessary, after each injection or other use of a hypodermic syringe, for the medical personnel to attempt to remove the needle from the syringe for disposal. The removal of a needle from a syringe, however, is a potentially dangerous procedure.
Installing a new needle on the end of a syringe in preparation for use is generally quite safe and easy in that needles are packaged in solid plastic sheaths or in some other similar manner that covers the needle point until the needle is securely installed on the syringe. Thus, the plastic sheath or the like can be safely grasped and the needle can be securely fit onto the end of the syringe, either by friction or by twisting the needle onto a "Luer" connection. The sheath is designed for easy removal once the needle is secured to the syringe body. Thus, installation of the needle takes place without exposing the user to the needle point.
Removal of used needles from the ends of syringes is a much more difficult and potentially dangerous process. Initially, it must be recognized that the needle is not capped at the time of removal. Some users inevitably attempt to recap the needles before removal. This procedure is not the generally preferred method of disposal and can result in accidental penetration of the needle into the hands and arms of the medical personnel in the event that the user is unable to immediately fit the cap over the needle. Such needle penetrations are often referred to as "needle sticks." Thus, medical personnel are faced with the problem of undoing a friction attachment, or with twisting and pulling a needle, in order to eject it from the end of the syringe body. This obviously presents a substantial danger of injury due to penetration by the exposed needle point.
In many hospitals and other medical facilities, needles sticks are far and away the most frequent cause of injury to medical personnel. For example, in one major university hospital it was found that there were 199 reported incidents of "needle stick" in a single year. In the same hospital, it was not unusual to find 20-30 reported needle stick accidents in any particular month.
In a survey of the causes of needle sticks it was found that the greatest instances of such accidents occurred during disposal of the needles or in attempted recapping of the needle following use. Thus, as would be expected penetration by used needles, rather than by fresh needles, is the major source of injury.
The potential for serious and painful injury following penetration by used hypodermic needles is obvious. Uncontrolled penetration of an individual by any extremely sharp object can result in serious physical injury. Indeed, needle sticks can cause injury similar to penetration by a small knife or other sharp instrument.
Apart from the potential for serious physical injury, an additional serious problem with needle sticks is the transmission of disease. In that needles are often used to give injections to seriously ill individuals, it is not surprising to find the transmission of communicable diseases by way of needle stick. This has become a particularly serious problem in recent years due to the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other diseases transmitted by exposure to blood or body fluids. Medical and hospital personnel are taking ever increasing precautions to minimize the transmission of diseases such as AIDS in the hospital setting. These precautions include increased use of masks and gloves when treating individuals with certain ailments. It will be readily appreciated that a single needle stick, however, can quickly defeat all of the precautions taken in other areas.
While AIDS is of major concern, other communicable and infectious diseases can also easily be transmitted by way of needle stick. Any type of infectious disease could be passed along to the medical personnel by penetration with a used needle. Diseases ranging from hepatitis to the common cold are of concern.
While various attempts have been made to address the problem of penetration by used needles, no widely accepted solution has been developed. For example, devices which basically include the use of an outer sheath on the syringe barrel have been developed. When the needle is not in use, the sheath slides forward until it covers the tip of the exposed needle. Many different configurations of this type of device are known in the art.
It will be appreciated, however, that constructing a needle sheath does not deal directly with the problem of removal of used needles from syringe bodies. Sheaths of the type mentioned above simply allow medical personnel to cover the needle while it is still attached to the hypodermic syringe. Thus, these types of sheaths do not in actuality deal with the problem of needle removal. These devices simply help protect the needle point between uses.
Other types of sheaths have also been developed. For example, collapsible sheaths which are permanently mounted to the exterior of the needle have been developed. When the needle is used during injection, the sheath collapses or folds toward the syringe barrel. When the injection is completed, the sheath again expands covering the needle. Again, however, these mechanisms simply provide a means for covering an exposed needle while the needle is not in use.
While some of the sheaths describe above may be fit with a feature which aids in the removal of the needle, this type of device is not very useful in everyday practice. The sheaths described above are cumbersome, expensive, and are not easily retrofit onto conventional commonly used syringes. As a result, these devices do not solve the problem of needle removal in common practice. Needle sheaths of the type described are more adaptable for use in situations requiring specialized equipment and repeated use of the needle.
In order to solve the problem of needle removal in everyday practice it is necessary to develop a device which allows needles to be removed from conventional, widely used syringe types. In addition, since cost and convenience are both important considerations, it would be desirable to provide an inexpensive and disposable mechanism for removing such needles. Such a mechanism would necessarily be compatible with inexpensive, disposable syringes and needles. A mechanism which requires reuse and sterilization is cumbersome and labor intensive in its use and, as a result, is not particularly practical in everyday use.
Accordingly, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide an apparatus which aided medical personnel in removing used needles from hypodermic syringes. It would be a further advancement in the art if such a device could be used in connection with conventional and widely accepted syringe types. In particular, it would be an advancement in the art if such a device could be retrofit onto conventional existing syringes. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide a simple and inexpensive device for removal of used needles from syringe bodies. This would allow the device to be disposed of along with the used syringe and needle once use was completed.
Such methods and apparatus are disclosed and claimed herein.